Perceptions and actions of oral care performed by nursing teams in intensive care units

A study was carried out, by means of a questionnaire for guided interviews seeking to establish a profile of perceptions and oral care given by ICU nursing team to patients in intensive care units.

The target population consisted of nursing practitioners divided in three education categories: nurses, nursing technicians and auxiliary nurses working at public and private hospital institutions providing for intensive care unit patients in Belem-PA. Dentistry experience has developed in this field reporting scientific findings and practical applications on prevention and reestablishment of the oral health in question.

This survey disclosed results suggesting that oral hygiene care given to intensive care units patients is insufficient and inadequate requiring changes be made in the care now provided in the nosocomial environment by the nursing team.

Presence of a dentist, knowledge of preventive dentistry, dissemination and use of oral hygiene specific resources are means suggested in an attempt to resolve difficulties found in oral health maintenance and treatment of oral diseases that affect the general health of hospitalized individuals. Interdisciplinary action for these individuals is advocated to achieve a better quality of life by preventing or minimizing oral pathologies.